To the question of iLur.am, what is his opinion about the pre-election debate, to put it mildly, tough, RA First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan answered:

— I am not at all interested in that play called debate. I am much more concerned about the events of the post-election period, which can be fatal for our country.

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2020 is almost two weeks away. In the context of the 44-day war, the former head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, returned to the agenda of discussions, the reason for organizing a closed discussion was his last is the offer. 

«I propose to organize a closed-format discussion in the National Assembly about the war and post-war events of 2020, involving in the discussion key political and military positions held during that period, as well as political and public figures who have the appropriate permission to deal with data containing state and official secrets, and relatives of dead and missing servicemen.

It is time to face the reality and explode all the lies and unnecessary speculations that are being circulated. I am ready to present a detailed and multi-faceted argued analysis regarding the armed forces.” stated in the general’s statement to which 168.am referred to. 

Almost at the same time, the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan, whom, in fact, Onik Gasparyan also invited to a closed meeting, 24Newsin a conversation with, referring to the proposal of the former head of the General Directorate, he noted:

«I gave exhaustive answers to the questions that were asked to me in the investigative committee. I don’t want to stand on the same rake one more time. I have nothing to add, unless there are more professional questions. And I don’t think that such discussions are appropriate in the pre-election phase, because whether it is closed or open, it will give rise to speculations. unprofessional and incompetent.”

After the statement-proposal distributed on April 18-19, the Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee Andranik Kocharyan through “Azatutyan” answering responded to the offer to organize a closed meeting. “Onik Gasparyan answered questions in the investigative commission for two days, and this is included in the report. He gave all the explanations and also presented his considerations. What does he want now?”

But one more on April 30th 24NewsIn a conversation with the National Assembly “Civil Contract” faction MP Gagik Melkonyan, who participated in the work of the 44-day investigative commission, said that he suggested to Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly, that a closed meeting of the former head of the General Assembly Onik Gasparyan be organized with the members of the committee, and Kocharyan allegedly accepted that proposal, that is, did he change his mind?

“Soon you will know the answer to that question. It is possible to organize a closed meeting of Onik Gasparyan with the members of the commission. Of course, we participated in a question-and-answer session with each other for two days, maybe he remembered something or has something to say that he just remembered. And if something has come up after two days of work, I will be happy for him to come and tell me what questions are left. He talked about many issues, told stories, said everything. He gave comprehensive answers to all questions, we did not see any problem. Now we will be happy for that additional part to come… I repeat, I appealed to Andranik Kocharyan, he also has a positive approach to this matter, and I think that the meeting will be organized very soon.” the CP general continued.

Gagik Melkonyan responded to the rebuttal: “Did you see a crime in the actions of Onik Gasparyan?”, “I am not an investigator, I am not a judge.”

Let us remind you that this is the same Gagik Melkonyan, who in March 2021, when the General Staff had already demanded the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan, announced. «Onik Gasparyan should resign, he lost the war himself.”

Moreover, in July 2022 was saying that the day when Onik Gasparyan will have to answer before the court is very close. And in the context of approving the disgraceful plan of using “Iskander”, Gagik Melkonyan disclosed that «there are targets that, for example, should have been hit at a distance of 25-35 kilometers, and the one that hit these targets is not “Iskander”, but another missile, and with similar planning, of course, we should have been defeated.”

It turns out to be quite a long and mixed story, about which Gagik Melkonyan probably changed his mind after hearing Onik Gasparyan’s explanations, maybe there is another reason for that. As for what will happen in the final reckoning, whether the closed meeting wanted by the former head of the GSH will be organized in this pre-election period, time will tell, and also who is leading a specific game in this field. One thing is clear: the next meeting of the person who had a key status during the 44-day war before the CPs will not put anything in its place. In any case, let’s wait for the development of events.

And during this time, the close circle of the former head of the State Security Service, under the guise of protecting him, is actually busy “cleansing” Nikol Pashinyan.

It is remarkable when, 6 years after the war, only the person presented as Onik Gasparyan’s adviser suddenly remembers that during the 44-day war, martial law was declared in RA, and Nikol Pashinyan could not reserve the powers of the commander-in-chief to himself, and the head of the General Staff directly obeyed him, which has been said for 6 years. we write pointing the arrow in the direction of the Minister of Defense in some way, in this case Onik Gasparyan has more to talk and prove, and just like Tiran Khachatryan, the former first deputy of the head of the Defense Ministry, was with us recently in the conversation նկատել՝ «if Pashinyan could not be the supreme commander during the martial law, why did they report everything to him, and he made decisions himself?”

There are open facts that Nikol Pashinyan himself admitted, that he made a military decision, another question is how true it is.

This series can be continued, including with Shushi.

But this is not all. Onik Gasparyan’s adviser, the person presented recently “threatened” “When Onik Gasparyan starts talking, he will start from the end of the 90s, what path did Armenia take, what did they create for the army, what did the army have when the war started, did you buy air defense equipment, did you produce weapons and ammunition, did you buy missiles, what did you buy for the army… It will explode, but you know it will only be related to Nikol Pashinyan, all the presidents will suffer?”

The fact that there were gaps in the former army and there are issues that should have been resolved earlier, including those related to armaments, is not disputed by anyone, but when Gasparyan’s close circles began to declare the former presidents guilty of the defeat of the war, it is still not very moral.

After all, Onik Gasparyan knew the army from the inside, at least he could not come under the responsibility of the head of the General Staff.

By the way, in 2023 in detail we presented why Onik Gasparyan was not appointed head of the State Security Service in 2018, when Pashinyan’s family newspaper published such information at that time. Let’s add that he participated in the development of the 7-year plan for the development of the Armed Forces after the April 2016 war, and he can publicly say what he presented, especially when questions arise from time to time. This is the first.

Secondly, if Onik Gasparyan shares the claims of his close circle, friends-advisors, why was he “serving” Nikol Pashinyan, but at the same time having conversations with the 3rd President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and saying: “do you think we should deliver more than we did?” Both Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan confirmed this.

And already during the 2021 NA extraordinary elections, Onik Gasparyan expressed his support for the second president of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan. And if there are things that might upset Onik Gasparyan, it does not mean that he should jeopardize his own military biography. And Onik Gasparyan went through the first war, he made a serious contribution to the army, he was the superior positional image of the Armenian side in Tavush, he had the reputation of a literate, unscrupulous officer.

And in the context of the 44-day war, we should mention that he remained in the General Hospital since September 25, 2020, in case of infection with the coronavirus during the 44-day war, when his condition was quite severe, according to our information, he was not hospitalized.

We wrote about the positive manifestations of General Gasparyan during these 6 years after the war, thinking that perhaps there are things we don’t know about, that it is not this government that should call him to account, that non-government defectors should not try to discredit him, but seeing the behavior of those around him, the incorrect behavior, which is certainly within his knowledge, we want to say briefly, in Serzh Sargsyan’s words, Onik Gasparyan, “don’t sully your general’s pagons.”

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We will have a new power, a new government, our future historiography, identity, right and interest demand it. All this is not only statistics: numbers, numerology, polls, but also spirit, ferments, connections, restraint towards one’s opposition partners, which is broken one by one. There are various factors, both emotional and hard, applied, practical political problems, which if solved, Armenia will finally have an elected legitimate government. 168TVof « expressed such an opinion during the program RA First Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi Hovhannisyan.

“We need collective responsibility. We have charismatic leaders, experienced, gifted, track record, etc., but we also have the complex of individualism. First of all, it belongs to the acting prince, who says that it is only me, and if I am not there, there is no Armenia, there is no peace, there is no statehood. It shows that the speaker himself does not understand what statehood is. It means that we do not have the Republic of Armenia as a state,” said the politician.

“They will continue to do everything until the elections to use the state’s assets, structures and powers for their own benefit, from national security to propaganda and television. This is a big constitutional violation, of course, but they will do it. Along with the already falsified pre-election situation, we should be able to bring such a result that the Armenian people will come out of depression, indifference, distress, and the deep pain of loss. It is necessary to participate in the elections, vote according to conscience, in the direction of the opposition. We should be able to get 60, 65, 70% participation in order to have that change,” Hovhannisyan mentioned.

According to the opinion of the opposition figure, the hybrid threat is not only Russia pointed out by them, but also Azerbaijan, Turkey, Europe, the USA, which interfere in our internal affairs.

“As Armenian people, we must understand that it is a fortunate existential situation, we are on the verge of disaster, and we must be able to bring about change. This situation already concerns not only the hearth, family, village, city of every Armenian person, but also the integrity of the Republic of Armenia.

The reproduction of this power will not bring peace, but war, or, without war, the dismemberment of Armenia. During their rule, we will not have Yerevan and marzes, we will not have a border with Iran, the eastern shore of Lake Sevan, and every Armenian will be directly under attack.”

“After committing genocide, the neighboring dictator says that they carried out Nuremberg there against the executioners of Armenia and the Armenian people, that is, the people who should have their international Nuremberg are changing their roles, and there is no response from Yerevan. This person subordinate to the neighboring dictators must be changed, we will have a new government,” said Raffi Hovhannisyan.

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168TV’s “Zara Has a Question” the guest of the program Daniel Ioannisyan is the program coordinator of the NGO “Association of Informed Citizens”.

In the conversation, the possible lawsuits against Anna Hakobyan, “Independent Observer” and Daniel Ioannisyan himself, the intensive growth of social programs launched by Pashinyan and his team during the pre-election period, the visits, promises, the manifestations of the unequal pre-election struggle, the possibilities of their prevention were discussed.

Another group of questions related to the clarification of the real goals of the fight against hybrid agents and the objectivity of the list of Facebook and YouTube user accounts used by the “Union of Informed Citizens” as an instrument of Russian interference in the Armenian elections.

There was a separate reference to the prospect of “peace” against the background of continuous aspirations of Azerbaijan, demands to eliminate the Armenian footprint in Artsakh, change the Constitution and boycott the Armenian Apostolic Church, etc.

Some of Daniel Ioannisyan’s recordings are below․

• We continue to insist that the name of the “My Step” foundation is associated with the “Civil Agreement” party, and yes, part 1 of Article 19, Clause 6 of the Election Code has been violated, an administrative offense provided for by Article 40, Clause 16 of the Code of Administrative Offenses has been committed.

• We expect the court to satisfy the claim. Of course, we have no great illusions about the independence of the courts of Armenia and we have all seen the judicial system act very unindependently in a number of cases, but, nevertheless, this does not stop us from starting legal processes.

• Խնդիրն ընկալումների մեջ է․ until now there are people who have some expectations during the elections, the problem lies in the incomplete functioning of the institutions, that sometimes a person, in order to get what he gets from the state system, has to tell the prime minister about it, the prime minister says: Papoyan, go, Torosyan, come, why is this person’s issue not solved? Ինստիտուտների չկայացվածության խնդիրն է։

But in the context of elections, yes, there are countries where it is forbidden to increase the volume of social programs. for example, in Great Britain, it is forbidden to increase the volume of social programs in a certain period before the elections. We proposed this within the framework of the electoral reforms in Armenia in 2018 and 2021. the authorities did not accept it. We will continue to insist on electoral reforms in the future, because, in our opinion, this is problematic.

• If you ask me, how equal is the election race for everyone… oh no, not equal, unfortunately, and not equal in many components. We see from the side of the government that the government is trying to gain a competitive advantage due to its administrative resources, some political opposition forces are trying to gain a competitive advantage with financial resources, and both they and they are doing this competitive advantage both outside the law and within the law.

• Regarding the “Civil Contract”, we applied to the Corruption Prevention Commission on April 19 and 25, considering the Gyumri and Yerevan concerts. They started some kind of proceedings, they wanted explanations from the CP.

• Overtly supportive statements are also a problem, but seeing it as interference… Putin announces one thing, JD Vance something else, Fidan did not directly announce it, but yes, that is also a problem. etiquette implies that one should not do such things.

• Understand correctly, I miss Artsakh very much, I wish for the state that existed at that time, but it was clear that it could not last forever. Looking back now, it is clear that it could not last forever.

Yes, we could have much better solutions, we could have solutions as a result of which Armenians would now live in Artsakh. we missed that chance.

• The statements and developments related to the AAP, which you look at retrospectively, were logical (I’m not saying they are good, in the history of Church relations, the government crossed many red lines that it shouldn’t have crossed).

Details in the interview

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Nikol Pashinyan told journalists after the previous session of the Government that they do not discuss with Azerbaijan and have never discussed “the issue of the return of the Armenians of Karabakh and Baku, as well as the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia, because both sides have a provocative effect on the current political situation.”

As for the churches destroyed by Azerbaijan in Artsakh, Nikol Pashinyan cited Artsvashen as an example, noting that “if a mosque is built in Artsvashen and Armenians go and decide to live there, won’t they destroy the mosque?”

It is not known what will happen to the cemeteries in occupied Artsakh, including the “Brotherhood Cemetery”, does Nikol Pashinyan view this issue in the same way as the issue of churches, that he will not make it a subject of discussion at the state level?

The graves of all the martyrs of the first Artsakh liberation war and subsequent wars remained in Artsakh, the grave of Armen Baghdasaryan, who was martyred in the 44-day war of Artsakh in 2020, also remained in Artsakh, in his native Gandzasar.

Armen Baghdasaryan’s mother, Eliza Baghdasaryan, when he was forcibly displaced from Artsakh in September 2023 and could not move his son’s grave In Armenia, the deceased asked to throw a “shell” on his son’s grave so that the Turks could not defile it, but no one took such a step.

of 168.am in a conversation with Eliza Baghdasaryan mentioned that she did not even think that Nikol Pashinyan could suddenly and suddenly raise the problem of destruction of Artsakh’s cultural monuments at the state level.

“If that person has at least a little Armenian conscience left, let him take steps to at least move the graves of our sons to Armenia, at least we will have a place to put flowers and smoke incense. But I don’t believe that he will do something like that, Pashinyan just doesn’t care about this issue, he illegally took our child away, killed us, deprived us of our homeland, he doesn’t care about us,” said Eliza Baghdasaryan.

According to our interlocutor, if Nikol Pashinyan has a desire, he will cooperate with the EU, Russia and various structures that will support him to solve this issue. However, he has clearly shown that he has no desire to address that issue.

Let’s remind that Artsakh Armenians have protested several times near the Government building. Some of the participants of the action were the relatives of those who went missing after the explosion in Stepanakert on September 25, 2023, who demanded a meeting from Nikol Pashinyan, because he is the one negotiating with Azerbaijan.

Relatives of those who died as a result of the military operation that took place on September 19-20, 2023 and were buried in Artsakh also participated in the action. They also demanded that the Government take steps to remove the bodies of their dead relatives from Artsakh and rebury them in Armenia.

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Instead of answering and being accountable for what he did and didn’t do, failures and disasters, Nikol Pashinyan threatens the people again. As he once threatened that if he is not the prime minister, Armenia will not have a prime minister, so now he threatens that if the CP is not in power, there will be a war.

And this is in the event that Nikol Pashinyan and the members of the Communist Party, who usurped the power with threats, have brought only disasters so far.

To say that they have failed to manage the country is to say nothing.

The example of Artsakh is before everyone’s eyes. During the previous elections, they promised not only to return Shushi and Hadrut, but also to resolve the issue of the status of Artsakh. Instead of fulfilling the promise, they accuse others of handing over Artsakh, and they do it with such pathos that sometimes people start doubting what they see and hear.

Recently, they invented an “innocent” way to justify themselves. They say that we made a mistake and try to close the topic with it. Never mind that this mistake was fatal for an entire nation, not to mention an entire generation. No one wants to answer for this. Instead of answering, they make excuses and blame others.

Who, who, but today’s rulers of Armenia have very well mastered the art of distorting reality, falsifying, lying and misleading people.

Defeats represent victories, losses represent achievements.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to resist the government’s manipulations. In any case, there are things that are difficult to avoid.

In the previous elections, the most important promise made by these authorities in the social sphere was the halving of poverty. This includes the increase of wages and pensions, the increase of jobs, inflation, and all other social promises. The changes recorded in all these aspects should lead to the reduction of poverty by half.

But what happened?

Officially, poverty has decreased, but it is meaningless to compare the amount of the decrease with what this government promised to the voters and the people. Instead of halving, there has been a slight reduction in poverty. That too, as a result of the change in poverty assessment criteria. How these changes affected the comparability of indicators is carefully hidden. Why, it is not difficult to understand. If the change was beneficial for the authorities, it would have been made public a long time ago. But since they avoid doing it, it means that it is not in their interest.

According to the latest data, poverty in Armenia continues to be extremely high. Almost 22 percent of the population, according to the new assessment criteria, is poor.

Eight years ago or during the previous government, according to official data, poverty was around 23 percent. This means that the political power has not fulfilled one of its key promises to improve the social situation in the country.

So much so that they talk about salary increases, job creation, and other social spending increases, all of them are formalities, if they do not lead to improvement of poverty indicators. Here you can see the results of salaries of teachers and military personnel reaching 700,000 drams. Here you can see the results of doubled, tripled and quadrupled salaries of scientists. The results of salary increases for all other employees can also be seen here. If these increases do not change the social situation or the image of poverty in the country, it means that they are worthless.

Another thing is that the social conditions of CP members have changed drastically in these years, they have left their once poor status.

Instead, even today there are people in Armenia who live in extreme poverty, despite the fact that the current rulers of Armenia promised to eliminate extreme poverty in the framework of the social situation during the previous elections.

One of the reasons why the social situation in Armenia continues to be stable and poverty is decreasing very slowly is that incomes are unevenly distributed. One of its manifestations is the current low minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage is one of the other key points of the government’s plan formed by today’s political power. Instead of 17,000 drams promised for five years, it was increased by only 7,000 drams. They did not even raise it by half. And it turned out that instead of 85,000, the minimum wage in Armenia is now only 75,000 drams.

Today, tens of thousands of citizens work for a whole month and receive such a salary. But they could get 85,000 drams if the government fulfilled its program obligations.

The socially important minimum wage was raised by only 7,000 drams in 5 years, and they receive a bonus of 7 million every 6 months, in addition to the seven-figure salaries.

Statements regarding the increase of tens and hundreds of thousands of jobs in Armenia in recent years are also in conflict with poverty. Not so many new jobs can be created, but poverty remains so high. It indirectly proves that the authorities’ claims that tens and hundreds of thousands of new jobs have been created are false. Under the conditions of creating so many new jobs, there could not be almost 650 thousand unemployed in Armenia.

By the way, reducing unemployment is one of the fundamental promises of the government. They promised that it should be below 10 percent, but it almost reaches 12 percent.

No matter how much they try to avoid it, the government’s failures are widespread, starting from the political, ending with the social and economic. They will have to answer for those failures before the people. Instead of giving an answer, they threaten with war.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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